Thursday, January 17, 2008

An anonymous OCThen reader asks if anyone remembers the Shakey's Pizza Parlor near Disneyland that had a pipe organ and a "nickelodeon guy"...

I'd sure like to find out anything pertaining to shakey" pizza parlor, particullarly the one near disneyland.. they had an amazing pipe organ and a nickelodeon guy, who I think was referred to as "mr nicelodeon" who played it all from the same console..

35 comments:

I dont remember the Shakeys by Disneyland having a Pipe Organ, though I know it was THE hang-out for Anaheim High Schoolers like myself. However there WAS a place called "Pipe Organ Pizza" that I remember and they had sound effects and stuff. They would play I believe it was "Misty" and they would have lightening and thiunder and the Organ would play. It was pretty neat and scary for a kid. I cant remember if it was on the little island at Tustin and 17th St or if it was in Costa Mesa

Well let me add to your cold comment :IT WAS PRETTY SCARY AS A KID: your PIZZA AND PIPES must have been very different then OUR PIZZA AND PIPES off of Arden in Sacramento, Ca it was the most exciting fascinating adventurous pizza and pipes that I could remember then again I had several FAVORITE PIZZA places but I'M VERY CURIOUS on why you were so frightened was it the way the organ played or WHAT ????????? I just loved our organ player no names mentioned but i wish i could find out what happened to the one and only organ player i heard as a little girl. He always put that smile right back on my face by not only playing the organ with all the pipes behind that window but when he wasn't playing organ pizza songs for us he would explain a lot of how the MIGHTY WURLITZER was playing and educated us on the history it's sounds to me that something else scared you, just like this STOP ORGAN PIZZA IN Arizona now come on what kind of name is stop organ pizza I would like to have more kids experience the beautiful music our pizza and pipes player played. I HOLD NO GRUDGE let each of US as a kid remember what we remember. I've always tried my best to think in a Optimistic way of thinking. I just wish we somehow, someway, could shut down those Chucky Cheeses and have GRAND OPENING FOR THE RETURN OF THE MIGHTY WURLITZER PIZZA AND PIPES sounds good to me where do i began?????? the pizza and pipes music is different than any of the church music or theater. anyways GOD BLESS AMERICA HUH? Tammy Sue ????

Oh, my gosh! I laughed when I read this. Back in the early 70's, my dad used to take our family to the Shakey's in Tustin and record us singing along with the player piano. I know he was hoping that one day we'd all make it big. We were the Mexican Jackson 5! LOL!

I use to go to Shakeys in the 1970's on Lincolin and Dale in Anaheim. One whole wall was filled with metal, brass pipe organ and a fish tank! There was a guy who played very loud and entertained as you ate pizza.I remember he left that Shakeys to go to play at another one! The Anaheim Shakeys is long gone.This post really takes me back!

I remember that Shakeys by Disneyland and the pipe organ player..I also remember in the 60's as a teenage going in the wrong bathroom..as they didn't have them marked Men and Women..they had something like "Ye Olde this" and "Ye olde That" and was I ever embarrassed when I came out to laughter..fun times.

I remember that Shakey's Pizza. That was the first place I ever had pizza, and my ideas of what pizza was and should be were formed by Shakey's Pizza. It was always exciting to go there and hear the music. I loved it. After moving away from Orange County to Indianapolis in late 1973 I didn't have pizza again for a few years.

My uncle managed the Shakey's on Harbor by Disneyland while he was in college in the 70s, and I too remember that crazy organ thing as a little kid. The guy actually released an album with that music on red vinyl, and the cover had a pic of the very organ that in Shakey's...The same Shakey's had a pre-video skeet shooting game that you could play while you were sitting on the wooden tables.

I do remember Shakeys! Their pizza was the bomb!! I used to go there at least once a week after school. I forgot what street it was on but I think it was on the way to the South Coast Plaza mall. I loved that mall lol!

This is too much. I happen to be listening to Prof. Nick O'Lodeon's red vinyl album at this very moment. I ran across it going thru old stuff. Then I Googled and found this site. The Shakey's was at 2815 Lincoln in Buena Park. 1971. Nick's real name was Earl Cornwell, Jr. He built his 22 ft long Kaleidocosmicorgrig himself. See pics at: http://www.facebook.com/n/?inbox/readmessage.php&t=1108295389121&aref=4105447

Ahhh Shakey's Pizza palor, I grew up going there my whole childhood. My grandfather would take me there on Friday nites when I was 5 and 6 years old, then we went to the Shakey's on Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa, he would tell me we where going nite clubing. The windows where made of all different colored pop bottles. The men that where making the pizza would have you stand in front at the counter and watch them toss the pizza in the air. The long picnic tables and the player paino, and the wonderful smell of that pizza, what great memories. Of course our root beer was served in the big glass pither, sure takes you back to a simpler time of days gone by. So very long ago.

I too remember a Shakey's Pizza Parlour with a pipe organ . It was located on Auburn Blvd. in Sacramento in the 1960s thru the 1980s . In addition to the organ, they had a lot of other automatic instuments like drums, bells and whistles that where controlled by the Mr. Nickelodean Guy playing on the organ . They also had small rides for the kids . You would stick a dime or a quarter in and could enjoy a ride on the plasic pony, little Model T car or the UFO Saucer . Wooo Woo !

I used to go to the Shakey's in Los Alamitos in the Late 60's early 70's with all my Buds after football and Basketball games! It was the ONLY place to be! Sitting there with that big pitcher of Root Beer and a nice hot pizza... ah... the good ole days!

I have the red vinyl album. I remember that it came with a strawberry scented incense stick and for years the album smelled like strawberries. I still have it. It is scratched all to hell and no longer smells of strawberries but I pull it out and listen to it every so often. I am a professional musician today and I owe Prof. Nick O'Lodean a huge thank you for making music such a fun and magical experience. I hope he is still entertaining and inspiring folks to this day!

The Shakey's on Harbor was THE place to go after a shift at The Park - I have been going there on and off for 25+ years now...in the early 90's the owner was unhappy with Shakey's franchise agreement (or some such)and changed his 4 or so Shakey's to Big's...Last year, he decided to retire; Shakey's is ramping up a stateside expansion, and voila'! It's a Shakey's again!

on or about 1967 thou 1973 there was a guy who played a pipe organ and rag time and honky tonk his name was nick he went by the name of nick nickelodeon a one man band at shakey's on harbor & ball by d-land last i heard he packed it up and moved to an amusement park in Georgia i will always remember this guy please comment on this i am on Face book as bob boyd this would be great to go over this!!

He did pack it up for Georgia but due to low turnout, the amusement park closed a few months late. The magic musical machine went into storage and my brother Nick passed away several years ago. But it is nice to know his memory lives on. All he wanted to do was bring people together through music. Perry

I just now googled the word Kaleidocosmicorgrig from the back of the Nick O'loden record that I've had for 40 years. I got it in 1970 at Shakey's pizza near Disneyland. My family lived on W. Hill right of of Ball road across from the Market Basket. We would go to Shakeys on Saturday to see Nick and his musical...thing. Thank you for the memory rush, Awesome..

pipe organ pizza was located in santa ana on tustin. i remember as a kid you could walk behind the organ and see all the pipes that were making all the sounds from the player. after they closed down they had to remove a wall just to remove the organ. last i heard the organ was in washington dc and used at a cathedral there. not sure if it was the national cathedral or not.

I liked near Pipe Organ Pizza there on 17th street in Santa Ana, near Tustin Ave. Also, Godfathers a little further down 17th before Grand Ave. And then at Grand Ave, remember Gemco and Zody's on opposite corners?

My mother was a good friend of the man who played the pipe organ at the Shakeys near Disneyland. He called himself "Nick O'Lodeon" but his real name was Earl Cornwell, but everyone knew him as Nick. The organ was made up of a rack of bottles all filled with different amounts of water, organ pipes, tambourines, and all sorts of things - all played from a set of keyboards. There was also a fish tank and a rear-projection screen on which he would show slides.

Nick died in 1987 and I don't know what became of his "rig", as he called it.

Oh, and one of my firsy jobs was making pizzas at the Shakeys in La Habra.

That was my brother Ralph Earl Cornwell Jr otherwise known as "Nick". He used to play at Knott's Saloon before Shakey's. It was great fun growing up with him. He was a talented artist and pianist. In the 1950's he turned our family room into a ghost town saloon. Unfortunately he passed away several years ago and his "gig" went to storage. It was great to hear that people still remember. I still have the album too. Fortunately I inherited some of the same piano talent from our mom and dad. I play at different events myself just for fun. You indicated your mom was friends with him. She probably remembers his mom and dad Ralph and Neanua and siblings, David, Bonnie, Pam, Perry. Thanks for posting this.

That Nickelodeon guy was our brother Ralph Earl Cornwell Jr otherwise known as "Nick". He used to play at Knott's Saloon and Bird Cage Theatre before Shakey's. It was great fun growing up with him. He was a talented artist and pianist. In the 1950's he turned our family room into a ghost town saloon complete with a hanging wagon wheel light and bar. My mom made dresses for my sisters who would serve up Sasperella at the bar while he played the honky-tonk piano (with thumb tacks on the keys) for guests. He was always full of surprises and fun. He took me to see my first color motion picture "the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad". Unfortunately he passed away several years ago and his "gig" went to storage. He was an accomplished painter completing some of his best work right before he passed away. It was great to hear that people still remember. I still have the album too. I can no longer smell the strawberry's. Fortunately I inherited some of the same piano talent from our mom and dad. I play at different events myself just for fun. Thanks again for your comments.

I went to the Anaheim Shakey's a few times in 1973-1974, when my family's friend, Captain Jack something (I'll have to look up his last name someone, started with an "M") would get to play the organ just because he loved music, loved organs, and was a pretty good musician. I was young, but I remember the Styrofoam Shakey's hats with a paper name plate, and our friend playing requests from the customers.

The Shakey's in Anaheim, CA on Lincoln and Dale originally had a pipe organ and a piano player . I went to Savanna High School and that was THE hang out for us after many events at the school. They also had "Sing A Long" where they would project the words to the song on the wall of the parlor along with corny pictures and the piano player would play and we sang these songs that dated back to the 1920's. lol. Great memories and a lof of fun!!!!!!!! Best pizza in town!

The Shakey's on Harbor Blvd is still there, but it was rebuilt and expanded. It was across the street the old head shop, Custom John's (which is gone now, I wonder who remembers THAT place?). As a former Disney employee, however, I can tell you Antonucci's off of Katella and West was the Cast Member hangout back in the 80's. That's gone too, now, however. Snif.